St. Brictius, Romanesque pillar basilica in Oekoven, Rommerskirchen, Germany
St. Brictius is a three-aisled Romanesque pillar basilica of light-coloured stone with a dark slate roof, in Oekoven, part of Rommerskirchen. Its tall square tower on the right ends in a steep pointed spire with a cross, flanked by corner pinnacles, and has narrow arched windows and a large open archway at its base. To the left runs the long rectangular nave with rows of arched windows and a lower side aisle with smaller windows; trees stand in front.
St. Brictius is a three-aisled Romanesque pillar basilica dated to the 12th century; its tower, nave and apse survive from that building phase. A charter of Pope Honorius III from 1223 confirms the church and its manor to the Cologne monastery of St. Gereon, and in 1287 Oekoven was first called a parish. The side aisles were altered in the 16th century and vaulted with cross vaults in the 17th; from 1877 to 1880 the Cologne architect August Carl Lange had them demolished and rebuilt in neo-Romanesque forms.
The church is dedicated to Saint Brictius of Tours, and the village of Oekoven was first recorded as a parish in 1287. A papal document of Honorius III from 1223 confirms the church and its estate belonged to the Cologne monastery of St. Gereon.
St. Brictius stands in Oekoven, part of Rommerskirchen in the Rhein-Kreis Neuss, and is still the local Roman Catholic parish church, so visits fit around parish services. The church is a listed architectural monument in North Rhine-Westphalia; the tower's open archway at its base frames the entrance side.
The church is dedicated to Saint Brictius of Tours, a fifth-century bishop. Its oldest written record is a 1223 charter of Pope Honorius III confirming the church and its manor farm to the Cologne monastery of St. Gereon. Oekoven was first called a parish in 1287.
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